"a grinding feeling of wretchedness..."See in text(The Fly)
“Wretchedness” means a feeling of deep anguish or distress. The boss is frightened by his sudden overwhelming misery, just as he had been puzzled by his inability to weep for his son. His material success, arrogance, and domineering nature have given him the illusion of control, but in reality, he has controlled nothing, except the torture and death of a fly.
"and the boss decided that this time should be the last, as he dipped the pen deep into the inkpot...."See in text(The Fly)
Although the boss has personified the fly while torturing it, seeing it as courageous and “artful,” meaning clever and skilled, he does not relinquish control over its ultimate fate.
"But just then the boss had an idea. He plunged his pen back into the ink, leaned his thick wrist on the blotting-paper, and as the fly tried its wings down came a great heavy blot...."See in text(The Fly)
The boss’s controlling nature and lack of empathy, which had been demonstrated earlier in his relationship with Woodifield and Macey, his clerk, are now directed at the fly.
"Something seemed to be wrong with him. He wasn’t feeling as he wanted to feel...."See in text(The Fly)
The boss is confused by his inability to weep for his dead son, since he had once been overwhelmed with weeping while remembering him. Grief, like memory, is transitory and does not endure.
"while the grey-haired office messenger, watching him, dodged in and out of his cubby-hole like a dog that expects to be taken for a run...."See in text(The Fly)
Macey, the boss’s elderly messenger, is described with a simile comparing him to “a dog that expects to be taken for a run.” The simile suggests Macey’s subservience in working for his arrogant, overbearing boss.
"“Quite right, quite right!” cried the boss, though what was quite right he hadn’t the least idea...."See in text(The Fly)
The boss, who is used to being in charge, is no longer in charge of his conversation with Woodifield; he has withdrawn from it and has paid no attention to what Woodifield has been saying.
"It gave him a feeling of deep, solid satisfaction to be planted there in the midst of it in full view of that frail old figure in the muffler...."See in text(The Fly)
The boss’s sense of superiority is evident in the passage. It is ironic that he views Woodifield as old, since he is five years older than Woodifield.
“Financial Times” refers to a major newspaper in the United Kingdom; founded in 1888 and edited in London, the paper influenced the financial policies of the British government. The boss’s reading the Financial Times suggests that he is a man of means and monitors the financial markets in running his business.
Woodifield’s boss is the main character in the story, but he is never identified by name, only by his position. His being “the boss” plays a central role in his character development as the story continues.
